In the news . . .

Study finds 1 in 5 obese among 4-year-olds

By LINDSEY TANNER
The Associated Press
Tuesday, April 7, 2009; 7:49 AM

<www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/07/AR2009040701202_pf.html>

CHICAGO -- "A striking new study says almost 1 in 5 American 4-year-olds is obese, and the rate is alarmingly higher among American Indian children, with nearly a third of them obese. Researchers were surprised to see differences by race at so early an age."

"'The magnitude of these differences was larger than we expected, and it is surprising to see differences by racial groups present so early in childhood,' said Sarah Anderson, an Ohio State University public health researcher. She conducted the research with Temple University's Dr. Robert Whitaker."

"'The cumulative evidence is alarming because within just a few decades, America will become a 'minority majority' nation,' he said. Without interventions, the next generation 'will be at very high risk' for heart disease, high blood pressure, cancers, joint diseases and other problems connected with obesity, said Flores, who was not involved in the new research. . . ."

"Almost 13 percent of Asian children were obese, along with 16 percent of whites, almost 21 percent of blacks, 22 percent of Hispanics, and 31 percent of American Indians. . . ."

"Some previous studies of young children did not distinguish between kids who were merely overweight versus obese, or they examined fewer racial groups. . . .

In the news . . .

Maureen Dowd's OP-ED in
The New York Times
(4 April 2009)
purports President Obama as

"The First Shrink"

Could it also be . . .

"The First Anthropologist"?

Dowd reports, "Barack Obama grew up learning how to slip in and out of different worlds — black and white, foreign and American, rich and poor."

"The son of an anthropologist [Dr. Stanley Ann "Anna" Dunham Soetoro], he developed a lot of 'tricks,' as he put it, training himself to be a close observer of human nature, figuring out what others needed so he could get where he wanted to go."

Barack Hussein Obama II

Maureen Dowd

And others have noted that "In an interview, Obama referred to his mother as 'the dominant figure in my formative years. . . . The values she taught me continue to be my touchstone when it comes to how I go about the world of politics." [President Obama's Mother, his primary anthropology teacher, did her Ph.D. Dissertation on "Peasant blacksmithing in Indonesia" (University of Hawaii, 1992)].
Wikipedia

On his European tour President Obama will visit, London, Germany, Strasbourg (in France, and seat of many important European institutions), Prague, and Turkey.)

Have a look at Maureen Dowd's article:
<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/05/opinion/05dowd.html>

and have a look at the BBC News Barack Obama page:
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/topics/barack_obama>

and the Telegraph (UK) Barack Obama page
<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/>

In the news . . .

"Ma and Pop’s 4th Street Market in the Central Hillside neighborhood closed Friday. . . ." The FOURTH ma and pop's grocery stores to close in Duluth just since last November.

"The closure of the 4th Street Market follows three other recent closures of small, locally-owned markets. The First Oriental Grocery Store closed in early March after 27 years of providing specialty Asian foods. The European Bakery in downtown Duluth went out of business in December after 95 years. And the Bayside Market on Park Point shut down in November after about 36 years."

Full Story [free for a few days, thereafter the Duluth News Tribune will charge a fee]:
<http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/image/id/32029/>

In the news . . .

Slow Food Minnesota's next official event is "Wild About You," a foraging dinner on May 17 at Seven Story Farm. Tickets are not yet available. More information at:

Announcements

• Slow Food Minnesota's next official event is "Wild About You," a foraging dinner on May 17 at Seven Story Farm. Tickets are not yet available. More information at:
  <http://slowfoodmn.org/events.html>
  
  
  
• Sign Up: Moroccan Diffa (feast), Monday, 13 April 2009, 5:00 p.m., 1006 Mississippi Ave.
  N 046° 48.965, W 092° 05.550, Alt. 1,484 ft., (map)
  
  

  Couscous Morocco

  Morocan Tajine

  
  
  
• Case Study #3 is due by Friday, 16 April 2010

Feature of the Day

Old Business

• Thursday 02 April 2009: Food and Social Change – Food related problems: Obesity, Anorexia nervosa, Bulemia . . . (slides, up to ca. 105 "Dying to be Thin")

Assignment

Notes

• Thursday 02 April 2009: Food and Social Change – Food related problems: Obesity, Anorexia nervosa, Bulemia . . . (slides, up to ca. 105 "Dying to be Thin")
• Thursday 9 April 2009: introduced and viewed The Global Banquet: The Politics of Food (50 min., 2001, VC 4770)